The present invention relates to a concession tray. A concession tray is a tray designed for carrying food items, for example, away from a concession selling takeout food. The invention is particularly concerned with a concession tray suitable for carrying both beverage cups and other food items together.
Stability and strength are very important qualities of a concession tray. At the same time, however, there is substantial incentive to keeping the cost quite low because the concession owner is not generally able to charge a fee for the tray.
In addition to being strong, stable and inexpensive, a concession tray must accommodate an adequate number of food items and beverage cups. Making a tray large enough to accommodate large items generally leads to instability. Therefore, the goals of achieving sufficient capacity and of achieving sufficient strength and stability are generally inconsistent with each other. Further, it is highly desirable for a concession tray to accommodate food items of various sizes and, particularly, beverage cups of varying sizes. It is also important for a concession tray to be easy to carry in a highly stable manner in view of the fact that food purchases including liquid beverages are often carried substantial distances in the tray.
While meeting all of the above-identified objectives, it is also important that a concession tray may be efficiently and easily stored inasmuch as substantial quantities are typically stored at food concessions.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a concession tray which has a substantial capacity for food items and, particularly, the ability to accommodate beverage cups of varying sizes.
It is an object of the invention to provide such a concession tray which stably holds food items and beverage cups, and is quite stable and easy to carry when fully or partially loaded.
A further object of the invention is to provide a concession tray having the above-described desirable characteristics, and which is easily stored at a food concession.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a tray which is inexpensive and can be quickly and easily prepared for use by a consumer.